A Study in Speculation
by Cumberbatch Critter
Summary: A series of oneshot!snapshots in the minds of different characters during different moments in A Study in Pink. Canon. Chapter Twelve: Five little words that John Watson used to, and still does, live by. On hiatus for now.
1. That's fantastic

Sherlock first got the inclination that something was a bit off about John Watson when, in the taxi, he had praised Sherlock's telling of John's life story. Most people... Well. John Watson wasn't most people, that was for sure.

Interesting.

_"So, where has there been heavy rain and strong wind within the radius of that travel time? Cardiff."_

_ "That's fantastic."_

There was it was again. There was definitely something different about John Watson. They might just get along.

_"Do you know you do that out loud?"_

_ "Sorry. I'll stop."_

So, he was conscious of it, then. Good. Even better. More interesting. What made it so that John Watson thought his proof of common folk being stupid as, quote, 'fantastic'? Oh, well, now that was a new mystery.

Sherlock loved mysteries.

Sherlock was going to love living with John, he could just tell.

_"No. It's... fine."_

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**Author's Note: This is going to be a series of oneshot!snapshots for moments throughout _A Study in Pink_. The POV will change, depending on the moment, ranging between Sherlock, John, Lestrade, and Mycroft. If you have an idea for a moment, let me know. I have a whole list of them to do, but look for more suggestions if you have them.**

**This snapshot occurs during John and Sherlock's first case together as Sherlock is analyzing Jennifer Wilson's body.**

**Reviews (and thoughts, as stated before) are lovely!**


	2. He's a psychopath

_"He's a psychopath. Psychopaths get bored."_

John didn't know what to think of Sally Donovan. He had no _real_ reason to dislike her; however, he found that he didn't particularly like her, anyway. He didn't like to go on first impressions, but she seemed like a...

Well, whatever. He probably wouldn't ever see her again.

Her words were haunting, though. Chilling, in the least. Sherlock Holmes was supposedly a psychopath and John was possibly going to live with him. Didn't get much better than that.

_"Stay away from Sherlock Holmes."_

That was a fine how-do-you-do, now wasn't it? One old buddy of his introducing him to a potential flatmate and a haughty, not to mention somewhat sleazy, police woman warning him to stay away. What was he supposed to choose?

John had to admit, though, Sherlock Holmes had an air of mystery about him.

He liked that. He liked it a lot.

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**This oneshot occurs when John is speaking to Sally Donovan about Sherlock. **

**(Because we all know that John really likes the weird and abnormal almost as much as Sherlock does. Just in less... inhuman way. xD)**

**Review, please and thanks!**


	3. Choose your side

If Sherlock Holmes was supposed to be dangerous, John wasn't sure what this man would be considered.

He stared at the fine-dressed man with the black umbrella and the little book of knowledge. There was a terribly sinister feeling about this man, something that rang with the idea of if you messed with this guy, you would suffer.

John had already suffered. He'd been in the war. And he wasn't about to betray someone.

Maybe he _was _very loyal very quickly, but that didn't stop him from sticking with his decision. He wasn't going to sell Sherlock out when he didn't even know Sherlock in the first place. For all John knew, this man could want to kill Sherlock and, stranger or not, John would have felt bad if he assisted in a person's death.

_"Time to choose a side, Doctor Watson."_

Unwittingly, he already had.

Oh, God. This was getting fun.

* * *

**When John's hand starts to tremble again, _that_ will be the sign that he's bored, and not until! So, there. :D**

**I thought I had updated this already. I'm sorry for the delay. I have a few of these finished. I went through _The Blind Banker_ and took down all the little scenes I want to do for that when I get there- yeah, if I haven't already mentioned it, I'll be thought-snapshotting all six episodes. It may take awhile. **

**Review, please! And ideas for moments are sought after... if I think I can write it, I will. :)**


	4. Friend? Oh, I meant archenemy

Sherlock took the news like John thought he would take it- laying down. He didn't seem to care that there was someone stalking him. Trying to, at least. He didn't seem to care about anything except the case at hand and the nicotine on arm.

He seemed more worked up when John had said 'friend' instead of, perhaps, potential kidnapper/murderer/stalker combo. In the end, he settled with the man's word, 'archenemy', and Sherlock seemed perfectly okay with that.

Yeah. Sherlock was weird. But at least he wasn't boring.

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**And we all know that Sherlock is thinking the exact same thing. Back to Sherlock's POV for next chapter! Reviews are, as usual, good, :D**


	5. Not the murderer

Sherlock felt the smile creep along his lips before he could stop it, before he could look back to the case and fall back into the mystery yet to solve.

_"Do people usually assume that you're the murderer?"_ John had said. It hadn't been any uncomfortable pauses, it hadn't been immediate leaving, it hadn't been screaming or panicked breathing or dialing 999 as he scrambled away.

It had been calm, cool, collected, and just a bit... dry. Like he honestly hadn't expected or hadn't cared if Sherlock _was_ the murderer. No panic. No fear. No horror.

Oh, John Watson _was_ a terribly interesting man.

_"Now and then, yes."_

And it had been back to the case, just like that, although Sherlock was generally more amused than he had been earlier.

* * *

**Good, ol' loyal doctor.**


	6. People will talk!

Two blokes couldn't catch a bite nowadays or what?

Here John had been friends- no, acquaintances- with Sherlock for less than three days and the owner of the shop thought that they were _together_? _Together_ together? And the owner of this shop _knew_ Sherlock, so how did he come to the conclusion that Sherlock and John would be dat-

_Oh_.

_Oh_, was it going to be this way all the time? If Sherlock was gay, did that automatically make for assumptions that John was his boyfriend?

Shit. Yes, it did.

* * *

**And here's the beginning of every single innuendo-ed joke in the book. Poor John. :P**


	7. Sherlock Holmes is WRONG

Jeez, he really was gay. He really was gay and since he didn't have a boyfriend already, people would _assume- _Oh, okay. Well. That was fine. He'd just correct them. They'd learn eventually. Okay. Good. He could handle that. Deep breath.

_"John, I think you should know that I consider myself married to my work, and while I'm flattered by your interest-"_

He almost choked. He literally almost choked. Sherlock thought he was- Okay, right when he had just talked himself into believing that he could just squash any rumours- Okay, no, this was fine. Sherlock was confused. Sherlock wasn't all there, Sherlock's mind was on the case and not functioning properly, because John was _most definitely_ not gay. He liked women. Very much.

With thoughts that very much mirrored what he thought his face looked like, he went back to his dinner. For being so brilliant with deductions, Sherlock was terrible with reading things like this.

* * *

**Yes, Sherlock is stupid when it comes to sentiment. We all know that. And it's great. :D**

**Getting closer to the end, but still quite a few more oneshots to go for _A Study in Pink_/_A Study in Speculation_. And then I'll be onto the next bigger and better thing, namely, _The Blind Banker_.**

**Review, please and ta!**


	8. Welcome to London

Why was he doing this? He just wished that _someone_ would tell him _why_ he was doing this. Running after Sherlock. Running after Sherlock who was running after a taxi which may or may not be housing a murderer. This was insane!

Although, John had the feeling that Sherlock would run headfirst into traffic to stop this taxi if John wasn't there to stop him. It was still a matter of why John was apologizing to everyone that Sherlock was running down, or everyone that was almost running _him_ down.

This was insane! He hadn't done anything this crazy in a long time, and _that was saying something since he had invaded Afghanistan!_

Oh, that was a far, high jump- Just do it, John! Keep up with Sherlock!

There was a sense of danger, definitely, but there was also a sense of... a thrill, of fun, of excitement. John missed this stuff. John _really_ missed this stuff.

_"Welcome to London."_

John was chuckling, even though he couldn't breathe, because Sherlock was just plain _mad_ and this was all just plain _mad_, but goodness, did he enjoy it.

* * *

**"Come on, John!" Thus, the beginning of a inseparable friendship.**


	9. I am always right

He had told him, hadn't he? He had _told_ him that his limp was psychosomatic, and he just loved to prove himself right.

By now, leaning against the wall of 221B Baker Street, chuckling amongst themselves, Sherlock had ascertained it. Well, if it wasn't a psychosomatic limp, it was something that Sherlock had yet to witness.

Of course, John hadn't realized what had happened, what the _real_ point of the town chase had been. Not yet, any-

Actually, right about now.

He said as much, followed by a knock on the door. Angelo passed John's cane back to him, followed by a quizzical glance from John.

Sherlock smiled, and he was almost totally positive that his face just read _I told you so_.

He liked to do that. He lived for the thrill, and he lived to prove people wrong. Did that make him such a bad person?

Of course not.

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**I know people were requesting this. xD However, I didn't want to do it in John's POV because everyone kind of... does their own interpretation of that in their mind... when they watch it. So, I did it in Sherlock's. Hopefully I didn't disappoint much.**


	10. Shut up!

It shouldn't have surprised him that Lestrade would drop by 221B to pick up the case. Lestrade wasn't dumb enough to think that Sherlock wouldn't find it, so Sherlock should have expected to find the one detective of Scotland Yard in his living room at one point.

However.

He hadn't expected to find that that certain detective had _broken_ into his flat.

_"You can't just break into my flat!"_

_"And you can't withhold evidence! And I didn't break into your flat."_

_"Well, what do you call this, then?"_

_"It's a drugs bust."_

Oh, that was clever. That was clever, because only Lestrade knew that Sherlock having drugs in the flat was totally possible. Traitor. Backstabbing traitor.

_"Seriously? This guy, a junkie? Have you met him?"_

Sherlock's attention snapped back to John without a second's pause. Stupid John. John knew nothing about Sherlock. He shouldn't _assume_, so he should just shut his mouth.

_"John."_

_"I'm pretty sure you could search this flat all day and you wouldn't find anything that you could call recreational."_

_"John, you probably want to shut up now."_

_"Yeah, but come on..."_

Sherlock instantly noticed the look that overtook John's eyes. He instantly knew what was coming next. He knew instantly that he wouldn't own up to it.

_"... No."_

_"What?"_

_"You?"_

_"Shut up."_

It wasn't any of his business, anyway.


	11. Why would she still be upset?

It was stupid, absolutely stupid. Jennifer Wilson had been unwittingly and surprisingly clever, so why would she, in her last moments, do something so _stupid_?

_"That was ages ago! Why would she still be upset?"_

In the split second after he had said it, Sherlock knew instantly that something within those ten words had been off. The flat just seemed to freeze. Which was incredible, considering the amount of ruckus and probable damage that the Yard was doing to his experiments in the kitchen.

He glanced about briefly, eyebrows furrowing as he looked back to John. He didn't understand, he didn't see... but there was a look on John's face and Sherlock just _knew_ that he had said something wrong.

_"Not good?"_

His voice seemed loud against the silence of the flat. He still didn't understand... Oh, hell, what did it matter? Sentiment- he couldn't be bothered.

_"A bit not good, yeah."_

He couldn't bother with sentiment, but at the same time... he had never bothered that people thought he was sociopathic, either.

Weird.

* * *

**And Sherlock doesn't understand why he cares at all. (Not such a sociopath, eh?)**


	12. Five Words

_"If you were dying, if you were being murdered, in your very last few seconds, what would you say?"_

He had been there before. Sherlock didn't know what he was saying, of course, because he didn't grasp any sort of tact, it seemed, but... Sherlock had been the one to guess that John's invalidation had been caused by traumatic circumstances, so shouldn't have he made the simple mind connection?

But, then again, Sherlock was on a case, it was all very sober, and he seemed more agitated by the fact that Scotland Yard was searching their flat for drugs than the fact that a woman had been murdered. So, Sherlock probably wasn't thinking of John's circumstances.

_"'Please, God, let me live.'"_

Five words he had used daily in the war, when the gunfire had gotten too rapid or the bombs had gotten too close. Everyday, he went into battle knowing that it could be his last, and everyday, he hoped that it wouldn't be.

_"Oh, use your imagination!"_

_"I don't have to."_

The last time that it had been a mantra for John had been the time that he took a bullet to the shoulder. He had had far too many close scrapes in the past and he had hoped with all his heart that this wouldn't be his undoing.

Thankfully, it hadn't been, so John still held hope to those five pleading little words.


End file.
